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Puerto
Rico Update, February 2002
U.S. Army South to Leave Puerto Rico
By John Lindsay-Poland
Only three years after moving to Puerto Rico from
Panama, U.S. Army South is preparing to pull up its takes and move
to the United States. General Alfredo Valenzuela, chief of the command
which is responsible for U.S. Army operations in Latin America and
the Caribbean, recommended leaving Fort Buchanan in San Juan in
a memo last August.
The two main candidates for relocation of the
command, known as USARSO, are Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas
— where Valenzuela grew up — and Fort Benning, Georgia,
home of the U.S. Army School of the Americas. The final decision
will be made by Army Secretary Thomas White and Army chief of staff
Eric Shinseki, with the consent of Congress. Shinseki had reportedly
approved a move to San Antonio, and White is from Texas, but interest
in Congress in hosting the command apparently delayed a formal decision.
The Army is conducting a study of eight possible sites.
Valenzuela cited the high cost of living for base
workers as well as the controversy over Vieques as reasons for leaving.
Some 480 soldiers and 670 civilians are employed by the command
on Fort Buchanan, which could remain as an Army Reserve or National
Guard base, or be closed, when USARSO leaves. In 1999 Congress imposed
a moratorium on construction at Buchanan as a result of the Vieques
conflict, preventing the badly needed expansion of child care clinics
the base.
Buchanan workers complain that they must wait
months to get a home telephone from the company that took over phone
service when it was privatized in 1998. They have also found that
hospitals are so short-staffed that family members must help out
by keeping long vigils with patients. The command lost 200 workers
in 2001, and has not replaced most of them, leading Valenzuela to
conclude that "leaving Fort Buchanan is a must-do to accomplish
the mission."
Valenzuela said the Army could save money by moving
to Georgia or Texas, where it would operate in leased buildings.
In Fort Sam Houston, the command would move into the dilapidated
Brooke Army Medical Center, vacant since 1996.
When USARSO’s relocation to Puerto Rico from
Panama was announced in 1997, then-governor Pedro Rosselló
greeted the news with enthusiasm. He claimed that the command’s
location in Puerto Rico would strengthen the war on drugs and country’s
economy — and his drive to make Puerto Rico as U.S. state.
Rosselló has been in disgrace of late as a result of growing
corruption scandals showing his administration, which ruled the
archipelago from 1992 to 2000.
By linking the move to the controversy around
Vieques, it appears to be an attempt to punish Puerto Rico economically
for its opposition to naval bombing on the island. But if Puerto
Rico prepares to convert Fort Buchanan to productive uses, it could
be the best blessing the Army could offer.
For the Caribbean Project for Justice and Peace,
USARSO’s announcement is good news. "Moving troops of
US Army South from Panama to Puerto Rico was another business between
governments, without the people’s consent, with no environmental,
social or economic impact analysis, and without giving information
on what the troops would do," Wanda Colón Cortez, director
of the Project in San Juan, told Puerto Rico Update. Noting
that militarism has limited the right of Puerto Ricans to self-determination,
Colón expressed confidence "that the 700 acres of Fort
Buchanan, like all lands militarily occupied, be returned for the
use and enjoyment of the Puerto Rican people."
Sources: San Antonio Express-News 12/23/01;
El Nuevo Día 12/10/01; El Panamá América
8/2/97.
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